Recipe Sifter

Fat-free fiesta pasta salad tosses rotelle with red onion, corn, green chiles, jalapeño, and cilantro in a chili-cumin Italian dressing. A potluck-ready Tex-Mex side that gets better as it sits.

Jerk chicken: chicken parts marinated for 24 hours in a fiery Jamaican paste of scotch bonnets, allspice, thyme, cinnamon, and lime, then grilled over charcoal until the skin crackles. Island fire at its finest.

Cold fruited chicken salad with dried apricots, orange segments, grapes, and toasted almonds in a white wine-vinegar dressing. A light, low-calorie summer lunch.

Rum Tum Tiddy: a retro cheesy tomato-cheddar Welsh rarebit variation with onion, green pepper, and a splash of sherry, spooned over toast. Vintage American comfort food.

Loaded Creole omelette with potatoes, ham, okra, red bell pepper, and cayenne, cooked in a skillet and puffed under the broiler. Brunch with a bayou kick.

Polygrain pilaf with brown rice, kasha, millet, and arame seaweed baked in vegetable stock. Topped with steamed carrots, peas, and daikon for a hearty vegan grain bowl.

Santa Fe blue corn casserole layers blue cornmeal batter with cumin-spiced pinto beans, green chilies, tomato sauce, and a generous topping of cheese. A Southwestern vegetarian-friendly bake with serious New Mexico flavor.

Ochsenschwanzsuppe is the classic German oxtail soup. Slowly simmered oxtails build a rich beef stock, then puree with root vegetables and finish with Madeira.

Shanghai-style braised duck simmered for two hours in dark and light soy sauce with star anise, ginger, and scallions, then honey-glazed and roasted until the skin crackles. Chopworthy.

Baked spaghetti casserole with ground beef, tomato soup, cream of mushroom soup, green pepper, and melted cheese. Old-school comfort food the whole family will devour.

Spiced ground caribou simmered with tomatoes, raisins, red wine vinegar, cumin, and cloves. A Latin-inspired wild game skillet meal ready in 30 minutes.

Midwest comfort food mash-up: ground beef and stewed tomatoes tossed with elbow macaroni and oregano. Simple, hearty, and ready in under an hour to feed a crowd.

Bacon clam chowder is a New England-style soup with minced clams, smoky bacon and half-and-half, simmered overnight for deep flavor. Skimmed and finished with seafood seasoning the next day.

Sauerkraut rolls made with elk steak pounded thin, stuffed with bacon-onion sauerkraut, and braised in beef stock. A hearty, old-world game meat roulade.

Phall curry, the famously fiery British-Indian curry house dish, made with twelve fresh green chiles, garam masala, fenugreek, and your meat of choice. For serious heat seekers only.

Turkey crunch casserole with slivered almonds, mushrooms, celery, and chow mein noodles on top. A 40-minute leftover turkey recipe that works equally well with chicken or ham.